SHOWER RENOVATION IN TORONTO & GTA

Have you ever stayed in a 5 star resort or a really fancy hotel?

Here Are A Few Tile and Stone Shower Ideas

Barrier Free Showers – For those who want easy access in and out of their shower a barrier free shower is the way to go. Tile and stone are the perfect materials to build a barrier free shower with because they are durable and withstand moisture exceptionally well. Tiles are easy to clean and if care for will look fantastic for many years. We can build you a beautiful tiled barrier free shower within your home.

Glass Shower Enclosure – If you’re after the ultimate luxury look then consider having us enclose your new tile or stone shower with a glass enclosure. Glass much like tile or stone can work with any existing color or decorating scheme. One of the downsides to glass is that soap scum and water stains can create a tough cleaning job… This is true. But once the glass is cleaned it’s going to look fantastic again for several months. We can even order custom glass enclosures etched with special designs and the options can go on. If you want an extravagant glass shower enclosure, we can do it!

Multiple Shower Heads and a Light For Convenience.

Multiple Shower Heads – Yeah, it’s totally real. Most of us have lived our entire lives never knowing what it felt like to have the truly “perfect” shower. Until you’ve tried a shower with multiple shower heads that is. With the shower controls and technology today it’s easy to get the perfect shower with a mixture of the right temperature and just the right amount of pressure with every shower. We can help you install the latest showering technology with your tile or stone shower.

Borders, Pebble in-lays, Shelves, Benches & Built in Niches - These are usually only found in the tile or stone showers built by craftsman because they take a great deal of knowledge and skill to pull off. GTA Restoration takes pride in the meticulous tile work that we do. We can seamlessly integrate any of these options into your custom tile shower without the typical mistakes you’d see in a lesser experienced contractors work.

Do you have an idea for the shower you’d love to see in your home? Have you seen a beautiful shower in a magazine, or want to replicate that spa like experience you had on your last vacation? Tell us about it! GTA Restoration can build you any type of shower you desire. With your creativity and our construction know-how we can work together to build you the ultimate showering experience.

If so, then you’ve probably already experienced showering in a tile or stone shower. You’ll probably agree then, that a staple in any luxurious bathroom is going to be a tile or stone shower. Both tile and stone generally come in neutral colors and earthy tones that will work perfectly with any existing bathroom decorating scheme.

The appearance of your new shower will give your bathroom a very natural look and will excude an upscale ambience that will really set your bathroom on the same level as those you’d see in a fancy remodeling magazine or a well known T.V. special about home remodeling.

GTA Restoration specializes in shower renovation: designing and building custom tile and/or stone showers into Union County homes. We can go through the entire process with you from the initial planning phases to actually designing what the shower will look like, the tile or stone we’ll be using right down to the shower controls and shower head, or shower heads if you really want an awesome showering experience!

A major project like a custom shower needs advance planning.

If you are planning a custom built shower for your home building or remodeling project, here are a few things you should know about the process while you are in the planning stages.

You can build any size shower you like, which is one of the benefits of building a shower from the base up; in other words, not using a commercially available shower pan of the drop in type. What you are going to do is build a shower pan with mortar and tile, and a waterproof membrane to form the pan.

﻿The correct installation of the vinyl pan liner﻿ After you have determined the size of the shower, your contractor will frame the walls, which may be full height all around, with one side open for the entrance, or there may be "knee" walls, the remainder to be enclosed with glass. The contractor will have his plumber install a special shower drain, which has a sub drain through which water will be carried away from the plastic liner beneath the surface of the floor through weep holes. Here is where a major problem arises in construction method depending on who does the work from here on, and this needs to be carefully considered before any work proceeds, because there will in turn be a large difference in the cost factor of the installation, and a potential health risk if it is done incorrectly.

It has been our experience that if a plumber installs the vinyl pan liner, and many do, he will typically lay the liner flat on the subfloor. The liner will extend up the walls a given height, and will be clamped at the drain with the clamping ring that comes with the drain. The tile contractor will then fill the floor with "deck mud" (a rather dry mix of sand and cement), and slope the surface to the top of the drain, leaving enough room for the thickness of the tile at the drain.

The problem with this method, and why it is not good practice, even if a general contractor will allow it (though it is in violation of the Uniform Plumbing Code), is that without a pre-slope under the shower pan liner (1/4" per foot minimum) to the sub surface weep holes, the liner cannot drain the water effectively. Water will accumulate underneath the floor, the floor will become waterlogged, and a serious mold and mildew problem will be the result.

The pan liner must always be sloped to the sub drain to allow water to drain off.

Further, it is a requirement of the Uniform Plumbing Code. If a tile contractor, or plumber tells you that it is not necessary to pre-slope the vinyl liner, get another contractor. It is your home. Insist that it be done correctly.

If we are doing your installation, we will insist on installing the pan liner ourselves, so that it is properly sloped to the sub drain. This means building a sloped surface with deck mud prior to installing the liner, and then laying the liner on this pre-sloped mud bed. After the liner is installed, and properly fastened up the walls, the finished floor upon which the tile will be set, approximately 1-1/4" to 2" thick, is "floated" with more deck mud.

It is important to note also that there can be no fasteners put through the liner anywhere inside the shower except at the very top, which should be 3" above the top of the curb. The liner must be folded at the corners, must wrap over the curb, and may only be fastened to the curb on the outside face. In addition, corners must be installed and sealed at each side of the opening where the liner must be cut to wrap over the curb. This is an area where a large potential for leaks exists if not done correctly.

Since the widest vinyl liner available is 6' wide, and since a good amount of this must wrap up the wall of the shower, the shower size is limited, unless this liner is seamed. Seaming the liner will ad to the cost of the installation.

Framing requirements for the pan liner

Before the installation of the pan liner, the contractor must place blocking between the studs around the entire perimeter of the shower to support the vinyl liner around the walls. The blocking must extend up as high as the top of the liner, as the liner will be fastened at the top to this blocking all around the walls. This blocking is often omitted by the building contractor. We will insist upon it, or we will install it ourselves. The height of the curb will be determined by the size of the shower, taking into consideration a min. 1/4"/foot slope of the floor to the drain. The dam height inside the shower should be at least 2", unless the shower is large enough that a dam will not be required (rarely the case in residential showers).

Any knee walls must be absolutely plumb and square, and must be installed in such a way that they are sturdy, with no movement. If a corner bench is to be installed, this must also be taken into consideration in the framing, with blocking provided. Also, if glass is to be placed on top of the knee walls, the vinyl liner must extend up and over the top of the knee wall, otherwise water will get into the wall and leak out at the floor.

Benches

A bench seat can be added to a large shower, either a corner bench or a bench the width of the shower. A bench built out of wood framing by the contractor will require additional waterproofing, which will necessarily ad a significant amount to the cost of the job, as these waterproofing materials are expensive. Alternatively, a prefabricated bench which needs no waterproofing and can be tiled on directly, may be used. They are available in two corner sizes, and an adjustable size for a full width bench. They offer plenty of support (rated up to 400 lbs), and may even be added after the tile is installed, but we install them after the installation of the cement backer board.

What it costs

The more complex the design, the greater will be the cost. A custom shower cannot be priced simply on a "per square foot" basis, and any installer who wants to give you a price simply based on the square footage (believe me, we have run into this), probably doesn't know what is involved. You would be wise to show him the door. I have personally torn out an uncompleted shower which the installer had priced so low as to be ridiculous. I had to start all over again from scratch, when the homeowner realized that the installer had no idea of what he was doing.

There are too many variables to be considered, such as knee walls, corner entry (requiring a 45 degree curb), bench, and other options and design factors, waterproofing requirements, and installation of accessories such as shelves, niches, and even decorative accents. Every option including the type of tile and trim, must be considered when working up a cost estimate. Some tile and trim can be more difficult to install, and is therefore more labor intensive. In some tile lines, all the necessary trim pieces may not be available which requires other trim options. This, too, will necessarily increase the cost. Therefore, it is important to find this out in advance. All these things must be kept in mind from the early planning stages, or you may quickly exceed your budget.

With a custom shower from GTA Restoration, you can customize to your heart's content. Pick the combination of shower heads, body sprays, hand showers and other fixtures to create your ultimate custom shower experience.A custom shower is ideal if you:

want to transform your bath with a rejuvenating, spa-like shower

we are doing a complete renovation

Features/Benefits:

completely customizable so you can choose the components that will create the shower experience you're looking for